Coffee, Concussion & Careers
by gingerweasleby
Summary: Can the idiot tainting her past prove himself now that Emma's over petty school grudges?
1. Artefact Accidents

Alarm clocks. World's worst invention in my opinion, along with 5:30am starts. Mixed together they're my worst nightmare as well as my usual start to the day.

I mean, what really went through my mind when I decided to take up a job that worked me 7 hours a day, and started at such a ridiculous time in the morning? Apart from the fact that at the age of 18 I was 100% sure it was my dream job and having every weekend off was also a bonus but bar that, my work life was shit.

At 20, I was situated under the over-worked/under-loved category of women, which wasn't exactly to my liking if I'm completely honest but it could be worse, I could have idiotic ambitions like my younger sister Harriet and be clinically depressed after 11 rejection letters from muggle universities. After graduating from Hogwarts instead of taking the recommended rout of applying for the usual wizarding based jobs, Harriet decided to 'further explore the muggle world' which evidently wasn't working in her favour. But that wasn't my main concern as of right now, getting to London in the next 10 minutes however was.

Travelling obviously wasn't a difficult task as a witch considering I could easily apparate the 300miles from Dublin in a matter of seconds but getting ready in complete silence to delay the anticipated waking my flat mate - who was anything but morning-friendly, wasn't a ten minute task.

So as a result of my Alarm-clock hatred and love for my bed, I was as expected, late for work. Again.

"This is the Last straw Miss Tuck! If you're late again, that's it. There are plenty of budding young healers who would appreciate this placement a lot more than you do."

I could see the vain pulsing on her forehead, like it had its own little life outside the perfect, pristine bubble of Healer Cassidy. It was repulsing, yet captivating considering my attention was drawn to it so easily. I think I could actually see the blood pulsing through it, maybe I should tell her to get it checked out.

Ahh, another of my traits thoroughly hated by my boss- Day dreaming.

"Merlin Emma! Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

"Yes, I'm on Artefact Accidents today. Got it." I casually sipped my coffee as I went to make my exit in hope she wouldn't realise that she had mentioned nothing of the sort, or maybe she had and today was to be my lucky day but that was wishful thinking.

"NO! I didn't say that. I just gave you a bloody lecture on punctuality!" she screeched, the pulsing vain making a second appearance of the morning - a new record, I should make a note. "You know what, I don't care anymore. Just go to the ground floor then, and stay out of my hair for one damn day."

And I did. The day got busier and busier as patients were admitted and discharged every minute, meaning I hadn't had chance to leave the ground floor wards never mind make it to the 4th floor where dear old Catherine Cassidy was stationed. After a hectic morning of 7 backfiring wands, 11 cauldron explosions amongst many other bizarre injuries acquired in ways I didn't want to know, I was taking advantage of my lunch hour. A nice stroll down to Diagon Alley to pick up some treats to add to my minuscule lunch of a half hearted salad(dieting sucked) was about as interesting as It got for me though. But I couldn't complain anything was better than sitting in the on call room, munching on a salad, alone, watching episodes of the cheesy sitcoms they show on T.V these days.

Lunch hour. This is the point in my day which would improve dramatically if my social life existed, however considering at the age of 18 I idiotically devoted my life to the age old career of healing, my friends were to the minimal, and most of them lived in Ireland.

Neither to my disappointment nor satisfaction, my lunch hour was dragging and I wasn't prepared to spend it in the on call room like every other day of my oh-so-exciting life, so I rang Harriet. Merlin only knows why, I didn't think it was humanly possible to sit through another minute of her moaning, never mind half an hour. But my loneliness had other ideas and before I could change my mind, we were tucked neatly into the corner of The Leakey Cauldron.

"So..." I didn't know how to start a conversation with my own sister, pathetic. Well I did, I just genuinely wanted to avoid the topic like the plague. "How's University hunting going?" Damn you awkwardness!

"Not too bad." Well that was a surprise. Wait; was that a smile on Harriet Tuck's face? My God a miracle! "I got a conditional place at a University in Manchester, apparently muggles don't get their results until August, that's why I kept getting rejected they thought I was giving in phony results, because I was a month early."

Harriet's voice was annoyingly British in comparison to my Irish accent, see when we were younger our parents got divorced and we were given the option to live with either parent, I chose my Dad and Harriet chose Mum. My Dad was originally Irish, so after the divorce was finalised he, along with me, moved back to his home town Dublin. My Mum and Harriet in turn stayed in our family house in London. My sister and I stayed relatively close considering we both attended Hogwarts together and therefore were in the presence of each other most days; however I am anything but close to my Mother and the same goes for Harriet and Dad.

"That's great!" I beamed trying to sound as delightful as my acting skills could stretch to, which wasn't very far. My enthusiasm was dismissed by her with a shake of the head though. Ungrateful cow.

"Anyway, if I don't get the placement I have other plans with Bradley." A smile crept onto her face as she mentioned this 'Bradley' giving me the impression that another boyfriend was on the scene. This, unlike the University offer didn't surprise me in the slightest, Harriet switched boyfriends more than a light-switch.

Throughout Hogwarts she always had a boy carrying her books around, swooning over her every move, she merely enjoyed the attention until she got bored in which she would find another desperate boy wandering the corridors. It sickened me during school, I never understood how she could tread on people's feelings so easily, and when she had a 'long lasting' (I'm using the term very loosely) boyfriend how she could let him into her life so easily. She was the opposite of me, an open book willing to let anyone who could get close enough read every detail. I could never do that, people who got close scared me and I instinctively pushed them away, my love life was ultimately doomed from the beginning.

"And these plans are?" I inquired half-interested.

"We're going travelling in South America."

I snorted, choking on my drink as I heard the words fall from her mouth. I was using all of my will power to refrain myself from bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, and I'm running for Minister of Magic this year." I laughed sarcastically but Harriet never was one for understanding sarcasm. "How do you plan to pay for that, Harry? You don't have a job, and I doubt Mum or Dad will pay for it."

"Bradley will pay." She smiled sweetly. She really was clueless, but I only had 3 minutes until I was due back at the hospital and I wasn't willing to lecture her on the prospect of financially supporting herself in such little time, so I stood up placing a few galleons on the table to pay for our drinks as I did, before bidding my farewell and leaving.

On my way in I mentally prayed that the last hour and a half of my shift would be less strenuous than the morning had been but that fantasy was swiftly crushed by the crowd of reporters huddled in the entrance. What the bloody hell had I missed in the last hour?

"You can't go up, I'm sorry but you don't have any authority here. If you would please leave that would be appreciated." The sweet voice of Melody the receptionist sounded exhausted and my heart pined for her as she tried to control the rowdy reporters. I couldn't just walk past. I shoved through the crowd until I was stood by the reception desk; I shot Melody a smile before impulsively clambering onto the desk and using 4 fingers to whistle as loud as possible. That caught their attention.

"Listen up. You have two choices, either get the bloody hell out of this hospital in the next 5 minutes or Magical Law Enforcement will be taking you to the Ministry along with a nice big sue from the hospital for disturbing the peace! Do you understand?" I shouted over the now silent reporters.

I didn't wait for a reply my part was played, I just jumped down from the desk with as much elegance as I could muster, so not much, and strolled down the corridor towards the Artefact Accidents ward a headless chocolate frog in my grasp.

"Emma!" A heaving breath echoed my name as I was pulled awkwardly into an alcove off the main corridor. "Thank God you're back, I have a job for you, see it's not got any quieter, since you left and I really need you to go to the Private ward and treat our newest patient, see nobody's had chance to check him over yet and it's going to look bad if the pr... find out.. And... And... Oh just go." The concentration I had to use to figure out what had been said throughout that bombardment of words was level 10 on a scale of Tuck concentration. Right, Private ward, treat patient, really busy. Sounds fun.

Turning on my heel; I walked in the direction of the private ward chucking the remainder of my chocolate frog into my mouth as I went. As I neared the main private room of the private ward (where I'd been informed the whereabouts of my patient was) I tied my hair into a pony tail on the top of my head before pushing against the grey doors which lead me into the room.

"This better not take long, my shift finishes in." I peered at my watch "just over an hour." I finally looked up to see who I was dealing with. "Oh." I hummed as realisation kicked in; it made sense now, the press, the rush to treat him.

"James Potter." I stated in a smug tone, this was the first time I had seen him since graduation, well in person, I'd seen him plenty of times in the newspapers for a variety of reasons. I walked towards his bedside, biting my lip to stop myself from smiling at the idea that James Potter needed MY help. I knew I needed to keep it professional so putting on a serious face I turned to face him, picking up the clipboard off the bedside table. "Quiditch accident makes sense." I mumbled, looking him up and down.

"So Mr Potter, Where does it hurt?" It was too damn difficult not to smile at this precious moment. At least now I could try to pull it off as a friendly, helpful smile of a kind.

"My left leg and my back." He groaned, oh the satisfaction that he was in pain, I was truly loving this, maybe I could be appointed his official Healer, and I would happily stay a few extra hours to witness his pain.

"Right." I mumble before moving to his left side and performing an X-Ray spell to check of breaks, which were inevitable. His left leg was shattered to pieces, and his spine had dislodged disks. I could mend his back with a five minute spell, I'd have to vanish and re-grow the bones in his leg, he'd be here for a day or two.

"Okay, Potter. Sorry, Mr Potter You'll be here for a few days I'm afraid. You see, I can easily repair the disks in your spine which you've dislodged to the right slightly, I'm guessing you landed on your left side?" he nodded in response. "You're lucky you got away with only bone damage it could have been a lot worse. However your left tibia is completely shattered so you'll have to re-grow the bone, it is possible but it'll be a painful process and will take up to three days max. But you're James Potter so I'm sure you can handle that." I added a sly, sarcastic dig at the end just to get at him. I highly doubted he remembered me from school, so most likely thought I was just a rude Healer, so just to make sure he didn't complain I introduced myself. "How rude of me, I'm Healer Tuck by the way, Emma Tuck." I added my full name sharply with a smug smile.

I watched his eyebrows shoot up his angular face as he began to recognise me, but of course I didn't give him the honour of making it known to others that we knew each other.

"I'm going to need you to keep as still as you possibly can Mr Potter as I heal your back, it may hurt, but if you squirm or try to move away it will take twice as long." I recited the incantation for the specific healing spell, keeping my concentration focused on the disks in his back was a difficult task when if I moved my eyes to the right and up only slightly I could witness the beautiful sight of James Potter in utter horrific pain, but I wasn't cruel enough to lose my focus as I know the consequences on the patient are dire and I value my job however much I might moan about it.

"All done" I sing-songed as my wand automatically ceased the magic being poured into his back which signalled complete healing "That should feel a lot better, your leg will still be painful though, I'll give you..." I peered at my watch, 30 minutes until my shift ended "10 minutes and then I'll come back with some skell-o-grow and vanish that messed up tibia of yours. First I need a coffee."

As I neared the door to leave a croaky voice whispered behind me words I never thought I would hear from a person such a James Potter. "Thank you Emma." I turned, nodded in his direction and left.

Once I knew I was out of audible distance I burst into a fit of laughter keeling over and grabbing my stomach for support. I wasn't entirely sure what out the situation I found particularly hilarious, but I knew that the feeling of joy welling up inside of me was because someone as high and mighty as Mr James Sirius Potter was in need of my help, ME! Emma Tuck! Who would have known?


	2. Happy Families

"You won't believe who I was treating today!" I laughed heartily as I tumbled out of the summer sun into the cool shade of my shared flat.

The lack of reply lead me to believe that my flat mate had actually gone to work today, but that was a ridiculous idea. I peered into the kitchen, it was empty but the kettle was still steaming so she couldn't be far away, wondering into the front room I found her huddled up on the couch, a box of tissues and a cup of coffee by her side. One look at her tear-stained face informed me that she was still mourning the death of her relationship.

"Biscuit and a rom-com?" I asked already knowing the answer; she nodded her head not looking up from her position on the couch. I made myself a coffee first, reminiscing on the joyful feeling I had within me before I arrived home. Maybe I could tell my story later. If anyone would understand, Dom would, she won't laugh I doubt she would have even if she was of a less depressed mind, but she'd understand why I was laughing.

"Come on budge over" I pushed her feet off the couch throwing myself down next to her "Biscuits" I stated throwing a pack of custard creams her way "Ryan Gosling!" I beamed kissing the case of 'Crazy, Stupid Love'

"You're a freak." She mumbled a miniature smile creeping onto her lips.

"You love it!" I pouted. "Right movie time!"

"So who did you treat today that'd I'd never believe?" We'd sat through the movie in a near enough silence up until now, not counting the 'mmm's and 'ooo's that escaped me every time Ryan Gosling appeared on screen, he was my celebrity perfection okay? I don't care if he was muggle, and totally out my league we were going to be wed. Once I've found him I can take a leaf out of Voldemort's mum's book and dose him up on love potion until we die. I wonder whether Accio would work, Accio Ryan Gosling! I shall try that later.

"Hmm, what? Did you say something?" my train of thought had gone haywire and I'd forgotten her question.

"Who. Did. You. Treat. Today?" She asked mockingly slow.

"Oh, your cousin." I smiled before turning my attention back to the screen as my Ryan appeared again.

"What? Oh my God? Who? Are they – are they okay?" she jumped from her seat dramatically looking frantically for something, I'm not too sure what she was looking for though.

"Yeah he's fine." I mumbled my mouth full of biscuit "Move out of the way I can't see the telly."

"HE! That doesn't narrow it down much. Who? Emma? Who?" she was hysterical and I figured it probably wasn't a good idea for her to be hysterical in the mournful state she has been in the past week. I grabbed the remote and paused the movie before looking back to an agitated Dominique Weasley.

"It was just James, he had a quidditch accident, broke his back and his leg." I paused sipping my coffee. "I fixed his back he's fine, and he will be whimpering like a baby in his ward right now whilst his left tibia grows back." I smiled evilly before turning to play the movie again. "Dom you're still in the way." But she didn't move she stood there looking at me bewildered. "Dom. What's wrong?"

"I should go see James." She said simply before turning for the door.

"Woah, woah, woah. Wait a minute, apart from family gatherings you haven't been in touch with James since we left Hogwarts. Why would you go see him? Why sympathise the bastard? I thought you didn't like him?" I was totally confused. I was blabbing on, I also didn't want her to go because it's Dom and she'd drag me along with her.

"He's family Emma, and he's going to be devastated." Okay that threw me.

"What? Why will he be devastated?" I shook my head as I spoke, no idea what she was getting at.

"A quidditch accident, he's not going to be playing for the rest of the season. He'll hate himself. It's James we're talking about, he doesn't take things lightly."

"The hypocrite" I mumbled under my breath. "Fine, go see him, take flowers and chocolate and be a happy family together." The spite was dripping from my words, a happy family – my lifelong dream.

"You're coming with me; I'm not leaving you in this horrible mood."

"I'm not in a horr-"

"Shut up." She grabbed me by the arm, not even giving me chance to moan about the fact I was wearing 'comfy clothes'*

_*Comfy clothes__: -A Chudley Cannons quidditch shirt 3 sizes too big.  
-Leggings.  
-Slippers._

"I'm in my slippers Dom! YOU IDIOT!" I shouted the minute we landed in the waiting room on the ground floor. Yes, I know I really do deserve an award for drawing attention to myself. Thank you, thank you. First I would like to thank my Mother, without your genes my voice would be nowhere near this loud. So this is for you Mum.

"Shut up moaning." She deadpanned before pulling me down a corridor.

"Wrong way Dom." She didn't reply, she just turned on her heel and began dragging me in the opposite direction. Right now if I had skills in people's emotions or social skills in general I would realise that Dom is pissed off at how laid back I was about the fact the her cousin was in hospital. But I don't and I also have no idea what the right thing to say in any situations in life is, so I ultimately make things worse. All the time.

"It was really hard not to look at his face when I was moving the bones in his back; it would have been a beautiful image to capture in my memory." I mused to myself as we carried on down the corridor. "I even asked if I could stay late to treat him, just so I could watch the pain of skell-o-grow take its next victim." I chuckled evilly "But ol' Cassidy wouldn't let me. I hate that woman." I continued with my self-rambling for the next minute while Dom just replied with an odd growl now and then. "Just walked past his door Dom."

The awkwardness of the room hit me like a brick wall the second Dom opened the door. She didn't go to make conversation with anyone, she just stood there limply. James' family were here visiting so obviously the room was quite crowded.

Dom stared at them.

They stared back.

I couldn't take it.

"Hi I'm Healer Tuck, James' Healer." I smiled pushing Dom out of the way and offering my hand out to be shaken. No one took my hand; they all merely looked at me weirdly. "I'm also Dom's roommate and I didn't want to be here, but she made me come." I dropped my hand and smiled awkwardly at James' family. "I'm gonna go and see if I have any shoes in my locker." I pointed towards the door behind me where Dom _still_ stood limply. I stood there for a second as though expecting some form of reply. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Had these people stopped breathing? I couldn't even hear them breathing which was worrying. Before I made anything worse, I turned and left making sure to pat Dom on the shoulder as I left for good luck.

I'm not joking the second I left the room I'm 99.9% sure I heard laughter. You'd think I was a dementor, sucking the joy from people's lives as I entered the same room as them.

I didn't go for shoes, I didn't have shoes in my locker, why would I? I'm not prepared for slipper incidents like this. I did however go for a coffee from the on call room machine – the one in the waiting room tasted like shit – before taking a long walk back to James' room and sitting outside patiently sipping my coffee, leaning against the wall, attempting to hear conversations. I'm not a freak I promise. Okay I don't promise but I'm still not a freak.

"Your healer seems nice James." The sweet, loving, motherly voice of Ginny Potter sang. My mother sounded like a bloody foghorn mixed with a toad, no sweet or motherly got thrown into the cauldron when Merlin made her.

"She is." He was such a blunt person. I don't think I've ever heard him speak a paragraph in his life. Not that I knew him well, but considering I spent more than a few lessons as his partner in some form or other, I've had a fair few of the blunt conversations, never nice ones. But I'm not getting into that now. Blank mind. Keep calm. Professional face.

"I wonder if she's back from getting shoes, we should apologise." She sang sweetly again. Blank mind. Professional face. "I'll go see." Blank mind. Profess – what? I scrambled up from my position on the floor throwing myself at the nearest chair and trying to find a casual pose just in time for Mrs Potter to walk out of the door.

"Oh, Hi." I smiled as I pretended the noise of the door had awoken me from my solitude.

"Hi, its Healer Tuck isn't it?"

"Emma. Call me Emma – I'm not in work now." Wow, I was impressed I didn't make myself out to be completely retarded and our conversation had been going for over 5 seconds. Yes!  
Oh shit. Her mouth is moving. "Sorry what did you say?"

"I was just saying sorry for how rude we were before." She chuckled.

"No worries, it's not every day you go to visit your son in hospital and his healer turns up in her slippers." I laughed nervously but I don't know why, I never was the nervous type I never have been, my dad put it down to lack of common sense. I think it was the reason I was sorted into Gryffindor, after a whole family tree filled with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs I was the first to stray to the other half of the Hogwarts houses. Even Harriet was sorted into Hufflepuff but I think that was purely because of her dreamy nature and lack of intelligence nothing to do with genes. Gryffindor the house that acquainted me with both Dom and James.

After an exchange of awkward smiles, I ended up following Ginny back into James' room. She didn't seem to have understood me earlier when I pointed out that I really didn't want to be here. To my delight, as I entered the conversation carried on and an awkward silence didn't reward me with its presence. I was actually sent a few friendly smiles.

I knew Dom's family were lovely, I'd met her parents a few times as well as her older and younger siblings. Fleur and Victoire were a bit difficult to tolerate after a whole day, but still lovely all the same. And many of her cousins were in Gryffindor so naturally I knew them and they're nice, so I don't understand why I expected this section of her family to be different. I guess I expected Potter to have inherited his awful, unkind, arrogant, self-loving traits from someone, but clearly that member of the family wasn't present because bar James himself there was no arrogance, unkindness of self-loving in the room. Okay there was self-loving, Dom was here, but you get my point.

Dom had finally started a conversation with James, she was sat on the stool next to his bed and even though I couldn't make out what they were saying, they seemed to be getting on pretty well after minimal contact for 2 years. James' younger siblings Albus and Lily were anti-socially sat in the corner; Lily was the typical teenage girl; chewing gum, tapping her feet, headphones on and eyes glued to her phone.

Considering for centuries wizards continually tried to distance themselves from the muggle world, and less than 30 years ago there was a major wizarding war based around a psychopath who wanted to kill all muggles and all those connected to muggles, we were pretty dependent on muggle devices such as mobile phones and televisions. Talk about hypocritical.

There's a spider on the wall, yuck! Hygiene was seriously going downhill in this hospital. They move in strange ways spiders do, you never know whether they're walking forwards, backwards or sideways. Eights legs is just too many to keep account of. Up. Left. Right. Up. Down. Or maybe it was down. Right. Left. Down. Up. Who knows?

Deciding the spider had been given enough of my attention I turned back to the room but it wasn't how I left it, for the second time in an hour all eyes were on me.  
"We've established I'm pretty much in my pyjamas, please don't stare at me."

"I was asking you about James' leg sweetie." Ginny smiled. I didn't know whether to feel welcomed or patronised by her. Her smile was all warm and friendly, but I wasn't 100% sure of her yet.

"Oh, right. What d'you want to know?"

"I was just wondering the general idea of how long he'd be here."

"Right, well, okay, right. Well the skell-o-grow should take two more days to re-grow his tibia, and considering he hasn't had an allergic reaction to it he should be fine by then. There are rare cases when the skell-o-grow goes a bit funny, it makes no sense really it does nothing to the health of the patient really nor can they feel any difference it just means he'd have to stay an extra day or two and have a healer go round his house to check up on him every day for a month or two."

They all looked at me concerned for a second, before I turned my attention to James; he was looking a bit peaky as his mother pointed out "Don't worry James she said it doesn't really make any difference if that did happen."

"I think he's more worried about the idea of me coming to his house every day for two months." I laughed, before realising I was the only one who would understand my joke and disguised it into a well transitioned cough. "Right Dom, I'm gonna have to go, I have a tonne of paper work. No thanks to you." I added turning my attention to James. I really felt like hurling some subtle sarcastic abuse at him, but in the presence of his family, I refrained myself to a smirk and a hair flick before bidding goodnight.

"Leg any better today Mr Potter?" I asked as I pushed through his bedroom door, my hands full of clipboards, coffee mugs and the pen that was previously balanced precariously behind my ear.

"I'm not sure, didn't really feel like squeezing my leg to see if there was a bone there." He replied, adding a more defined out take of breath to show some form of humour.

"I suppose that's my job isn't it."

"Don't squeeze my leg to check for bones." He snapped moving away looking alarmed at my suggestion.

"Calm down love, I wasn't going to. You can get me sacked, however if you hadn't become such a big shot with a tonne of money I would have happily put you through the pain." I said coldly grinding my teeth as I put the clipboard on the edge of his bed. "Your family are a lovely bunch aren't they?"

"I never knew you lived with Dom."

"I didn't expect you to keep tabs on me once we left school, so I'm not surprised."

"I also didn't know you were a Chudley Cannons fan." He smirked. As you can probably guess James was a chaser for the Chudley Cannons, and since last year he's been on the England quidditch team. So you'll understand the press being here yesterday. They would have been even if he worked in a pub none the less, being the saviour of the world's son and all that.

"Mmhmm." I cast an X-ray charm on his leg before he could carry on the conversation inspecting his growing bones. "You should be able to go home in 2 days, as I expected."

"And will you be visiting me every day?"

"I won't know that until the bone is fully grown Potter, but keep your fingers crossed."

"I can see you still hate Me." he burst out surprising me, that wasn't what I expected from James Potter, I never even knew he took notice that I wasn't his biggest fan throughout school.

"Hate's a strong word Potter."

"So you do."

"No, I'm not a child any more James. But I don't like you, which I can guarantee will never change." I shook my head at his idiotic questions before changing the subject. "So how is the care at the hospital treating your high standards? It's a compulsory questionnaire." I added at his stern looks.

"Fine, My healers a bit of a bitch, but the foods nice." His stare didn't move from my eyes, nor did mine from his as I fired the questions at him, my tone and his answers both accompanied by sly digs at the victim of words. I could feel my eyes beginning to sting but I refused to drop my glare first.

"You better not be causing any more discomfort for patients Miss Tuck, do you know how long it took me to write apologetic letters to all the complaints last month?" I didn't look at her I still wanted to keep my stare on Potter.  
I rewarded myself with a miniature, subconscious celebratory dance as Potter's eyes moved away from mine, obviously it wasn't for another 30seconds until I realised he stopped staring to laugh at me.

"Okay, that doesn't surprise me; the fact that you're a healer surprised the hell out of me, but the complaints – nuh huh that makes sense." He laughed.

Cocky bastard. I really didn't like him.

"You know Miss Tuck?" Healer Cassidy questioned at James' outburst.

"Of course I do, we were best friends through Hogwarts." I felt my nostrils automatically flare as I turned to face him my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. What the fuck was he on? I'm sure the potions we used didn't make patients delusional – I should send for a drug test, all the sporting people of the world were on drugs now-a-days.

"Cassidy my love, I believe I have to examine Potter's head. He's delusional, delayed concussion is my prognosis." I added before she got the idea we were friends. No, no, no.

The boss merely shook her head and headed out of the room. "It's Mr Potter to you Emma, friends or not, you're working." And she left.

The second she left the room, I childishly stuck up two fingers in her direction and scrunched my face up. "Wanker." I huffed before turning back to James and pulling my coat down to show I was professional, which was true. When I wanted to be.

"We're not friends Potter, as you pointed out. I don't like you."

"We'll see about that." He chuckled. I just flared my nostrils and pursed my lips, staring him down with a frown.


	3. Me Time

**Thank you to anyone who's reading, I hope you're enjoying the plot. I know the chapters are pretty short at the moment, but once I get into the story a bit more it will get lengthier I promise. Well, I hope you like the chapter, please review and tell me what you think? :)**

"You have _got_ to be kidding me?"

"No I am not _kidding_ Miss Tuck." Her voice ran through me like a knife, it took all I could muster to not shiver after every word. "You _will_ see to your patient properly, and you _will _do it every morning and night for the next 2 months because that is an order! Do you understand me?"

"Yes." I refused to argue with someone when their voice could reach such volumes and pitches at this time in the morning; I knew my ears would come out of that battle scarred for life.

After news like that, I didn't care if I'd had one 5 minutes ago I needed a coffee and a strong one at that. In all honesty I don't even think a fire whiskey would have put me in a good mood now, my day was ruined. Scratch that, my mornings and evenings for the next 2 months were ruined. Oh how I would love to curl up in bed with a box of chocolates and all series of Lost so I could cry at how cruel life was right now. But no, I had to deliver the beautiful news to the perpetrator of this crime.

"Bad morning?" bad move cowboy. "Woah I was only asking, stop with the murderous eyes!"

"I am _not_ in the mood for you today James." I was gripping on to his clipboard with such aggression that my knuckles had turned white.

"Boyfriend break up with you?" he asked pushing himself to a sitting position. Just like he was pushing my buttons.

"No James. I don't have a boyfriend." My lips were barely parting as I spoke. "_You_ are the reason I am in such a shit mood! You and you fucking Tibia fucking bone." I slammed the clipboard down onto the side table. "It just _had_ to be you didn't it. It couldn't be the sweet little old lady last week, or Jordan Wood – who I must say is looking particularly hot since he left Hogwarts. No. It had to be you James Potter; it's always James fucking Potter."

I stood there in silence, just staring at him with all the hatred I had in me. But he coughed to clear the air. Arrogant sod he did that on purpose.

"It would really help if you told me what I'd done?"

I threw myself on to the chair next to his bed. My mood had rapidly changed from anger to depression.

"I have to spend the next 2 months checking on you every day." I mumbled, I was acting like a sulking toddler it was pathetic. I was pathetic.

"oh." He sighed "Bummer."

"I know." Our conversation was too quiet and agreeable, it's been too long since James and I agreed on something, I wasn't liking this blast from the past.

"I guess you can go home now. I'll see you in" I checked my watch "7 hours."

It was inevitable that another screeching match would begin hours later between Cassidy and I. I hadn't moved since James left, I was lay on his hospital bed, wondering why Merlin was punishing me. I didn't even have the energy to get myself a coffee; I think it's fair to say I wasn't coping well with the news of James' presence for the next 8weeks.

"Tuck what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?"

"Drowning in my own sorrow." I mumbled into the bed sheets.

"Smelling his sheets isn't going to help you love; I can see that there's a rocky past between you two. I guess you had a messy break-up." She sighed caringly. I didn't register what she'd said until she was sat on the bed and her hand was on my shoulder.

"What?" I blinked, turning to face her, my eyebrows raised to new heights.

"You and Mr Potter have a history." She smiled.

"Yes, we have a history of hatred. No love was ever involved I hate his every atom; I spent the whole of my 5th year at Hogwarts planning a way to kill him without being sent to Azkaban." I corrected quickly before smiling to myself "I never did figure out a way."

"If there isn't a past between you, I see no reason for you to be slacking at work." She quickly changed her tune "You have several patients to be attending to. So get back to work." She reminded me of Professor McGonagall when she was mad, they both have the whole angry head shaking thing totally covered.

My day had never dragged as much; Healer Cassidy wasn't lying when she said there were several patients I had to attend to. On top of the already bad mood I was in, my emotions were on a downward spiral throughout the day, and just as I thought it was over at 3 when my shift ended I was given an unwanted reminder.

"Erm Miss...Miss...Healer Tuck?" I turned around from the coffee machine, disappointed that I couldn't watch my coffee be made in peace, to be faced by a jittery nurse Joshua or as I called him 'Cassidy's skivvy' both were accurate career descriptions.

"Yes?" I asked impatiently tapping my foot as I heard the coffee machine begin its magical work.

"C...C...Healer Cassidy told me to remind you that you must visit Mr P...Potter tonight."

His timidness irritated me to no end, I don't know why he acted like such a girl seriously the boy needed a backbone. He stood there hunched over as though I was going to pounce at him and attack. Merlin, I'm not that much of a threatening person.

"Yeah yeah, thanks Josh." I muttered as I turned to retrieve my waiting, well deserved coffee. It was half past three by the time I decided I should go home, I had no reason to delay going home, if anything I should be rushing home to get a few hours of me time before work again took over. Me time, ha that was occasion unheard of within my life schedule. Let me see, oh I had a bath last week that took an hour I guess that classes as me time and I was on one of them dreadful blind dates Harriet constantly organises for me despite my protests, according to her I am 'inadequate at finding myself a worthy man.' Apparently not having a serious relationship at the age of 20 is unheard of.

"Hello!" I called out as I landed in the hallway of our apartment. No answer, maybe wishes did come true and I did have the place to myself for a few hours. This was a revelation I must plan the next 2 hours of my life very carefully so I get the most out of this period of aloneness. I believe a well deserved shower was in order, I may even shave my legs – not that that was needed, I can't even remember the last time I had sex it must have been at least 3 months ago. Maybe I could read a book for a while or I could watch a movie. No I didn't have time for a movie. Who was I kidding; I'd have a power shower and do some more paper work.

My life was pathetic.

Really, really pathetic.

I did shave my legs, but there was no book, well there were several books none of them books I wish to read in my spare time though, all were books I was making notes in about various patients.

I peered at my watch: 5 o'clock.

"Why the hell did I become a healer?" I groaned to myself as my face slammed against the pile of books in front of me. I hadn't yet eaten, I still had three more files to fill in before the morning and I was due at Potter's house within the next hour. I'm 100% sure Catherine Cassidy was preparing me for death, she was working me as hard as she possibly could and giving me long-lasting patients who I despise being in the same room as whilst she comes up with the master plan to pull the final jenga block from beneath me. She was evil, evil I tell you. I bet she was a death eater who had something against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff decedents.

I should see a psychiatrist.

"Hello, I'm Emma Tuck and I think my boss is trying to kill me."

"Hi Emma"

"I'm Bob the Builder and I have a fire whiskey addiction."

"Hi Bob"

I was destined to be at a convention for mentalists by the age of 23 there was no hope for me. I would be sat in a caravan at the age of 50 with 23 cats, a hamster and a pigeon, mumbling about Catherine Cassidy's plans to murder me. I needed to get out of this house, I was driving myself insane.

I paced up and down the street staring at my mobile phone wondering whether James had the same number as he did in 2nd year, I could only hope. I attacked the green button of my phone with my thumb and pressed my phone to my ear waiting for a voice to answer.

"Hullo?"

"Hi, James?" I subconsciously bit my lip hoping I wasn't making an embarrassment of myself.

"Erm Yeah it is, Emma?" he sounded confused. Oh God I _was_ making a fool of myself.

"Yeah, do you have my number saved? How'd you know it's me?" I felt slightly alarmed at the Idea; somehow it wasn't right if he had my number saved, even if I did have his.

"No" he chuckled "you're just the only Irish person I know."

"Oh, yeah." I replied dumbly "listen, I live in Dublin and you live in London so it's a bit inconvenient for me to come all the way, as long as you're not dying. You're not dying, are you?"

"No I'm not dying, but you can apparate right?"

"Damn it!" I exclaimed before putting the phone down, my feeble attempt to bypass the scheduled visit to James Potter had backfired. Tomorrow I shall try the sick card, for now I have no choice but to go to London.

"James?" I knocked on the door again. I could hear him moving around on the other side of the door; I knew he was just trying to wind me up. "Potter for fuck sake, open the damn door, I do not want to be here so don't make it more difficult!" the shuffling stopped for a moment before footsteps began to echo towards me. I jumped away from the door, his footfalls were too symmetrical, he should be limping, oh Merlin I've been shouting abuse at the wrong door.

"Miss Tuck." Harry Potter smiled politely as he opened the door. I didn't move I just stared, my face burning as embarrassment washed over me. My eyes shut of their own accord as my brow creased and I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. I must admit I would rather it had been the wrong house with half of an Italian mafia ready to kill me than this. This was purely horrific.

"Hi." I squeaked awkwardly, I should have told Potter over the phone that I was unable to apparate; my failure at such a mediocre task would be less painful than this. "I didn't know his family were here, I can come back later."

I span around to walk off at speeds I didn't know my legs were capable of.

"Miss Tuck!" I tried to ignore him in hope he would let me come back later, or never – never sounded good. My short legs deceived me as he caught up to me with ease, I should have just apparated I seriously forget I have magic more often that I should. "You can come back it's just me there, If you need James alone I was planning to leave soon anyway."

Defeated I ambled back towards his open door. I really do hate my job.

"Potter!" I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm as he looked up towards his father and I's entrance. "Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, cup of tea?" he started to push himself up from his position on the couch.

"No, no don't get up." I hastily chipped in before he stood; I knew a drink would slow the process of me returning home. "Plus I'm a coffee drinker."

There was a silence for a while, strangely it wasn't uncomfortable I'd began to admire his home, you could tell he came from wealth it was written on ever wall, but this room was undeniably homely. James sat on a leather couch in the middle of the room set apart from the hallway by a step down, in front of him lay a glass coffee table and behind that an impressive fireplace, the tell tale pot of luminous green powder on the top. This one room alone held the perfect balance of old and new that I had been wanting in mine and Dom's flat since we moved in last year. If only we were all on 1000 galleons as a weekly wage.

"Best get to business." I smiled realising my mind had wandered for long enough. Walking around to the opposite side of the couch so that I was stood in front of Potter, I peered up at the room again. "Where'd your dad go?"

"He left 5 minutes ago, he did say goodbye but you were giving my coffee table death glares." My face burnt, flushing crimson again. Damn you pale complexion!

Coughing to attempt to act nonchalant was never a strong point of mine. "Yeah, erm... yes. It's a nice coffee table" quickly drawing the attention away from my day dreaming I pulled the rucksack from my back and crouched to the floor to begin rummaging for the needle and potion I needed. "So, no pain today?"

"No my leg's been fine. I see you got here from Dublin easily enough." I stared harder at the contents of my bag in an attempt to hide my face.

"Found it!" I exclaimed pulling a vial filled with a blue substance out of my bag along with a painfully large needle. James' face visibly paled at the sight of it; oh please tell me he had tripanophobia. Okay the next 2 months mightn't be too bad if he's scared of needles. "Are you scared of needles?" I smirked.

"N...No, of course not."

"Don't worry; I legally can't hurt you purposefully, so unless you're my first injection to go wrong or I decide I'm willing to lose my job, you're safe." He looked sceptical of the idea. "Come on Cassidy didn't make me you Healer to punish me, well maybe that was a factor, but she made me come here every day, because you're a 'precious patient' and I'm the safest person to give injections. So just relax, it makes my job easier."

I stood up abruptly once he began to relax. "Take your pants off." My order was met by a puzzled look, before it was overwritten by a lustful smirk. "I'm sticking this in your leg, don't look so happy about stripping in front of me" I scoffed.

"See you in the morning Potter." I left before he could reply.  
I guess it could have been worse, hell I know it could have been worse. The main perk of the situation was Potter didn't seem to be in a talkative mood, I knew he'd begin to loosen up around me soon enough though which wasn't what I wanted. You couldn't blame us for our conversations barely passing as small talk; this had been the closest to a civilised exchange from the pair of us in 6 years.


End file.
